An EXCITING year!

I have definitely been having an amazing year so far!

First I should tell you about my library space! My husband and I moved to a larger apartment last fall. I am LOVING having a dedicated library space! I am sure I will be sharing some more of the fun projects I am enjoying in this space on my blog in posts to come. My most recent project involved making a Mike Flanagan inspired corner because he is my favorite writer/director:

I decided to share this on Twitter and got a very pleasant surprise!

After many life experiences,  I do not think any human being should be put on a pedestal. It's a long story, but I really do not have a hero. Not only are people imperfect, but it devalues them as human beings and prevents from embracing the people with compassion for who they are. I do have people whose work I deeply admire and I have crushes. However I just can't elevate a person into a God figure by making them a hero.

With that being said, Mike Flanagan is one of the people I deeply admire. Mike Flanagan has celebrity status with thousands of people following him on Twitter and HE LIKED MY TWEET. This definitely put a bounce in my step. Despite my mediation on humanity, knowing Mike Flanagan liked my tweet gave me an energizing joy responsible for putting a bounce in my step!

The little corner of my library started to evolve more. The newer accumulations made my crush on Rohul Kohli obvious. He is not only an amazing actor but the things he chooses to share about himself on Twitter make fans like myself swoon. 

Yet again, I tweeted showing my fun collection. I let out a giddy scream at the response I received!

Yes, dear reader, the first person to like this tweet was Rahul Kohli himself! 😍😍😍😍🤩🤩🤩🤩This excitement reminded me of performing in my high school's production of Bye Bye Birdie! I felt like a teenager screaming over a sexy star. Feeling excitement surge through my whole body, my head got stuck in the clouds for more than a few days. 

I know these interactions on Twitter were very small, however these men are huge in the horror community. As a result, interaction with them on social media is a big deal. I know Rahul Kohli and Mike Flanagan are people. But they are people who have done work that I find deeply meaningful. I was (and still am) elated about the experience of seeing each of them like my tweets. I even printed pictures of these tweets to have physical evidence of these moments. 

But my best news is not about being a fan girl! I am now TRADITONALLY PUBLISHED.

 Little Girl Get Up was self published in 2018. Since the perspective is an agnostic take on a biblical story, the market and audience wasn't there,  so self publishing was my only option. Afterwards, getting traditionally published became my primary goal.

I finally achieved this goal! At the beginning of March, my story "The Shadow" was published in Bag of Bones Press' 206 Word Stories!

At the beginning of April my poems "Inside of Me" and "Corporate Keyboard" appeared in Under Her Skin.

It is definitely an honor for my poetry debut to be in the same collection as Sara Tantlinger, Stephanie Wyotovich and Cynthia Pelayo. They are amazing female horror writers whose work I've admired ever since I got bitten by the horror bug.

Seeing my work in print is an AMAZING feeling. I've had YEARS of rejection letters and now I finally have several of my pieces in print. I still have ALOT more stories and poems I want the world to see.

 The beast of writing is that there will be more rejections in the future. In fact, a rejection email for another piece came between publications. But hopefully hard work and perseverance will lead to other opportunities for the world to read my writing.  But for now, I am grateful and thrilled for what I have accomplished already this year. Just trying to get published at all had been long endeavor.  There is nothing more satisfying than seeing my own writing  in print!